Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 414 Comments

Messy House Tour 2014

Since you guys have enjoyed the past messy house tour videos that we’ve shared (like this one from our last house in 2011), we seized the opportunity to remind everyone that we’re not all carefully folded towels and meticulously placed pillows 24/7 (not even close). With our attention focused mostly on the showhouse & some last minute nursery updates, many of our other house projects have been put on hold (some are literally halfway done) and a handful of rooms have quickly devolved into chaos. And when your house is a mess, why not video tape it for the whole internet to see?

A few notes:

  • There is no rapping in this video. I am both relieved and somewhat disappointed.
  • I hate narrating these things and usually just hold the camera (I have steadier hands) while Sherry talks, but she was doing showhouse stuff so I put on my big boy pants and went for it.
  • Burger is all over this thing like a helicopter in a P.Diddy video.
  • Don’t worry about the droopy figs in the office. They bounce right back after getting some water… although they do seem to be suspiciously thirsty.
  • If there truly were a wedding between a sabre toothed tiger and a pony, I would have given anything to attend it as a child (I was a huge fan of any type of tiger, and checked out a library book about tigers every week for two years straight in elementary school)
  • Look at those gleaming hardwood floors after the climb to the second floor. They make my chest swell with pride.
  • For everyone asking what’s on the fourth wall of the nursery, you catch a quick glimpse of it in the video (it’s just a floor lamp and the doorway to the hall for now, but we might add a “wall of fun” like we did in Clara’s room eventually)
  • There’s some rarely seen footage of the unfinished storage room at the end of the upstairs hallway (and – surprise! – that’s a mess too)
  • I edited the end of the video to cut off myself shouting “keeping it real” because something possessed me to yell that out and the end of the video like a Backstreet Boy circa 1995 and I couldn’t not let it see the light of day. You understand, right?

In case you can’t watch the video at work (it would still pretty much tell the story sans sound), here’s a quick tour-via-screengrab of some of the highlights.

Messy Office With Half Painted And Furniture Partially Moved In

Messy Kitchen With Half Finished Counters And Stuff Moved Onto Table

Dining Room Cluttered With Objects Moved Out Of Office and Kitchen During Projects

Living Room With Toys And Blankets Everywhere

Guest Room Filled With Clothes and Items To Be Craigslisted

If everything stays on schedule, we should have a few days between our big Homearama deadline and our baby arrival date when we can hopefully wrap up a couple of projects and return things to some semblance of order. You know, right before Barnacle comes along and throws us all out of whack again…

Does anyone else have any messes to fess up to? Is there some half-finished project that’s causing a ripple effect into other rooms around it? We can’t be the only ones.

Psst – Showhouse deadlines have kept us even crazier than expected this week, so we’re not going to have a post for you tomorrow, but we hope to be back at it again on Monday.

Comments

  1. Joy says

    …and I thought I couldn’t love you guys more than I already do!? As a mom of 4 (2 boys, 2 girls) who desires and works hard to make our home look nice as well as make it functional, thanks for “keeping it real” and visually letting me know you are real people who actually *live* in your house, too! ;)

    Best wishes for an uncomplicated delivery and fast recovery! No joke, the BEST thing you’ll ever do for your #1 is give her a sibling! :)

    Reply

  3. Stacey C says

    Thank you for keeping it real. It makes all of us feel better that it’s not perfect 24/7 at your house either. With 2 little ones and 3 pugs, it’s never (ever ever) clean around my house!

    Reply

  4. Theresa says

    Y’all have a clothes chair too! Also known as the chair in the bedroom I never sit in because it holds my clean laundry until I decide to put it away…or wear it. :)

    Reply

  5. Nicky says

    You know, it’s really nice seeing everything in a tour, it gives a better idea of how things hang together. It’s all looking really good! Keep at it guys, you’re an inspiration (and a relief to know you’re messy too!)

    Reply

  6. Jen H. says

    Thank you for this post! I took on a small project this week and the rest of my home has suffered (even grocery shopping stopped). I thought I was the only one with a cluttered home. I really needed pics of your non-perfect home. ;)

    Reply

  8. xanthe says

    Hiya

    We recently got the same camera as you guys, still reading the manual and loads of books about photography. I noticed when we film, you can hear a lot of the camera noises in the background which is kinda annoying. How did you get around this issue? Thanks

    p.s. Hope all goes well with sorting the show house today so you can now concentrate on the bun’s arrival. x

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We just leave it on a high F-stop and focus once before we start recording and just leave it on that focus setting the whole time (we don’t push the button to refocus as we go, since that makes the noise). Hope it helps!

      xo
      s

  9. Jes says

    I actually don’t think it’s that bad, it’s basically just stuff that needs to be put away. It’s not like you live in filth and need to scrub every surface! It’s clean but messy :-). I think if all 4 of you (the 4th being Burger, he needs to pull his weight) spent a good 2 hours together, you would get everything put away and all sparkling by the barnacles arrival :-).

    Our house often looks like this (or worse) and we still have friends and family over. Life is too short to miss out on spending time with lived ones because if something as trivial as how tidy your house is. Xo

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Some old rugs (they’re mostly too small for this house) and some baskets and art and odds and ends. Will try to post a p.s. with a link for any interested locals when we finally get them up :)

      xo
      s

    • Britt says

      I agree! I have wanted that brown comforter from the guest bedroom since I saw it in the first house! I’m in canada though so not local, so Sherry could you please divulge where it came from?

  11. Hollie says

    I love the nightstand in the master bedroom! Where is it from? Did you DIY something on the drawer fronts?

    Reply

  12. Sassafras says

    I’ve probably told you before but Momma always said, “To bake a cake, first you must break some eggs.” IOW, there will be messes along the way to delightful! Wishing you all safe delivery of the Barnacle and the showhouse!!

    Reply

  13. Dana says

    Completely off topic question about the foyer. We have almost identical slate in our foyer and are looking forward to cleaning up the grout like you did.

    We do notice that without a rug it gets pretty dirty, but have had a lot of trouble finding a small area rug that goes with the slate. I noticed you don’t seem to use one… do you find that it is just not necessary for your needs, or did you also have trouble finding a good match?

    Reply

  14. Mary Sabrina says

    I just wanted to say your storage room is glorious! I wish I had a room like that in my tiny house. Not sure if this has already been asked, but do you have plans to put up shelves or storage units in there?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’d love to eventually finish that room to make it a media room and bunk room down the line. Some shelves would be awesome for now though!

      xo
      s

  16. Emily says

    I’ve only been following your wonderful blog for a while so I hadn’t seen previous messy house posts. This made me feel so much better! I’m diving into a bathroom renovation and have let the rest of the house go. My two young kids think it’s great that we haven’t cleaned up the forts they built in the living room/art projects on the kitchen floor. I’ve been blasting “Let it Go” from Frozen! :-)

    Reply

  17. Lee Ann says

    Looks like my house all the time! Really, though, I only have two concerns: 1) WHERE do you eat right now???, and 2) Did you really walk DOWN the stairs looking thru the camera? Brave!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We have been eating at the showhouse a lot (late nights there, shopping until 8pm, etc) but sometimes we clear off a spot on the table by packing even more in the dining room. It’s crazy.

      xo
      s

  18. Whitney says

    Had a dream last night (weird!) that you had the baby (don’t know why I dream about my favorite bloggers). So… maybe that’s the cause for the delay in Friday’s post? :)

    Reply

  19. jill says

    Just a little side note…your Habitat house was flashed this morning at the Richmond Retail Merchants Association First Friday Forum. I guess Village Bank is sponsoring as well & they had an image up while they were presenting. I did my best not to jump out of my seat and squeal. :-)

    Reply

  20. Krista says

    I checked back far too many times for todays post before I noticed the Psst! At the bottom of this post haha.

    I’m not addicted to this blog or anything… I swear…

    Reply

  21. Meggan says

    John, just imagined you as a kid drawing a “liger” like Napoleon. “It’s pretty much my favorite animal.” ;) Keepin’ it Real!

    Reply

  22. April M. says

    Okay guys…it’s 11am here in Indy and no YHL post for the day. Sherry, you’re not in labor are you?!!?
    Ps. Totally about to buy my very own Karl thanks to you guys and your honest opinion about him. I can’t wait for all of the boxes to arrive!! Huzzah!!

    Reply

  24. My Crappy House says

    Wow. I just posted my OWN reality check two days ago on my blog. Great minds think alike… I definitely have you beat for biggest mess, but I’m still under construction so I have an excuse.

    Reply

  25. Emily R says

    This gives me anxiety just looking at it. I can’t stand a mess. I need things picked up every night before I go to bed. I’m currently renovating my kitchen and live in a tiny one bedroom. I’m about to go ballistic!

    Reply

  26. Diane says

    My kids gave me a fridge magnet many years ago for Mother’s Day (and were very proud of themselves when they presented it to me)- it said “Boring Mothers Have Clean Houses”.
    I am not boring. :)

    Reply

  27. carmen says

    I’m missing my daily dose of YHL today… hmmmm? Did Sherry go into labor early? Best of Luck to both of you.

    Reply

  28. Mauresa says

    Love it! Thanks so much for the honesty guys! So refreshing. Random side note: Has anyone ever told you that your voice sounds very similar to Bert’s from Sesame Street? As a mom of two little ones, there’s a lot of Sesame Street on over here and I could not stop thinking that!

    Reply

  29. JessicaL says

    All ok this morning!? Haven’t seen a post for today. Not trying to bug you, just not a normal occurance to not see a daily post. Love you guys and looking forward to the next post! :)

    Reply

  30. Shantay Gattis says

    Where is your post for today? I thought maybe something “bun” related was happening, but then noticed replies to comments posted this AM. Hope everything is OK!

    Reply

  31. Donna says

    Checked in this morning and no post! Could it possibly be LABOR DAY?!!!
    If, so…good luck Petersik Family! God bless you! Can’t wait to welcome your precious addition!
    XoXo

    Reply

  32. Rick S says

    I feel so much better. I am not the only one that starts something and then lets it set while higher priority tasks get done. While my wife and I are moving her parents into an assisted living apartment our two bathroom redo is on pause. We are waiting for the new counters for one upstairs bathroom and the only downstairs bathroom (1/2bath) The new Kohler Archer soaker tub is in the box, standing on end in the doorway to the formal livingroom. You can’t miss it when you walk in the front door. The upstairs bath wallpaper was removed and the walls are patially skim coated up to where the old tub will be removed.
    rick

    Reply

  33. Elle says

    Just in case there’s anything big going on today, absolute best of luck. Sending good thoughts to you and the baby (Clara’s baby? ;)

    Reply

  35. Melissa says

    On a scale of 1-stalker, how creepy is it that I’m concerned you haven’t posted yet today? Hope all is well!

    Reply

  36. Mrs. A says

    Love that you keep it real! I hope you are able to get mostly organized before the baby comes – I remember being a bit insane about having everything in the house in its proper place about 2 weeks before my son was born – crazy amped-up nesting style. :)

    Oh, I’m sure you have a guest posts planned post-baby so you can enjoy some family time. Looking forward to them – your guest posters are always so great!

    Reply

  38. Katie says

    It’d be super great if people just read the blog and comments before asking if baby is coming…or *gasp* just let this sweet family announce it when they’re ready.

    Reply

  39. Kristen says

    Hi, sorry to bother you on a much needed day off (from blogging, I know you’re still working)! I just wanted to second a suggestion from a commenter earlier….please post old favorite posts, most popular projects, etc. I know you have a wonderful archive system but I think your readers would love a “best of yhl” series, a “what were we thinking?” series would be fun, too! It’s evident by all the comments how much you were missed today!

    Reply

  40. Laura B says

    Haha! Maybe you guys should post a post on how your not going to post today.

    Obviously, you have a lot of loyal readers who are excited and concerned for you. And who love your posts.

    Hope you are feeling well,

    Laura in Bayside, 36 weeks w #2 myself.

    Reply

  44. Amanda says

    LOL Guess I’m not the first to think that! I just jumped over to the end of the comments to see if you guys were responding. Might wanna move that message to the top of yesterday’s post! We are all so nosy :) Have a nice weekend.

    Reply

  45. tia says

    I imagine you are a little touched that we are all concerned and a little teacher-style-annoyed that we didn’t read all the instructions.

    Reply

  47. Sara says

    I don’t see an April 4th post… could there be a baby boy that has arrived?!?! Sending you guys positive vibes, even if this isn’t the reason.

    Happy Weekend.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Ahh, so many people think it’s baby day. Sorry guys! We had a bold message at the bottom of yesterday’s post that said we were taking today off for showhouse stuff. No baby :)

      xo
      s

  48. Andrea says

    I’m cracking up at the string of “Where’s the post??” comments.

    Seriously. Next time, please be considerate enough to leave a bolded little message at the bottom of the preceding day’s post. ;)

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *